Dark before the Dawn
by pippins-gal
Summary: It is always darkest before the day dawneth. Harry and Draco talk at the end of the world. Character death


Disclaimer: Harry n Draco are the property of J.K. Rowling, not me etc.  
  
Dark before the Dawn  
  
Harry fought as the guards dragged him down the dank corridor and threw him into a small cell at the end. As Harry shook his head trying to clear the dizziness from where he had hit his head he heard their laughter, Voldemort had finally caught his nemesis, it seemed. He could still hear them laughing and joking as they walked off down the corridor, taking the flaming torch that lit the corridor with them leaving the cell light only by the moon, peeping in through a single high window. He looked around. Come on Harry, he thought Think! You need a plan; no one else can get you out now. The cell was empty, apart from a bit of straw spread about on the floor and the walls were built of thick stone. No escape there. With some effort he stood up and walked over and shook the bars that separated his cage from the corridor.  
  
"Its no use." A voice echoed out of the dark "They won't give, and even if they did you'd never get out of here alive. This place's stronger that Azkaban, physically and magically." Harry leant forwards, trying to see who was talking to him. In the cell opposite a figure sat, leaning against the far wall. A very familiar figure, with mussed blonde hair and a pale face that almost glowed in the moonlight.  
  
"Malfoy?" Harry asked, shocked. "The very same." Draco said with a slight smirk. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked, "Displeased your master huh? Or just didn't kill enough muggles for his liking?" "Hardly." Draco spat back. The bickering between them was just like the old days, but the stakes were a lot higher now. Harry wished they were back at Hogwarts where this was just childish fighting and none of it mattered. "For your information Potter, I was never a Death Eater. That's why I ended up here: Punishment." Draco got up slowly and took a step towards Harry, eyes locked with the other man's. "Did you know" he said, almost whispering "that all the cells in this corridor were full when I got here? I saw your friend Black by the way, he said to say hi." "Sirius was here? Where is he?" Harry snapped to attention. His godfather had gone missing two months ago during a Death Eater raid. "Oh he's dead." Draco replied easily, "Actually I lied, he didn't say hi. Just before went he said that the rest of didn't need to worry, that you'd destroy Voldemort and save us all. He never imagined you'd end up here too."  
  
Harry stumbled, numb with pain at what Draco was saying. Of course it had been foolish to expect Sirius to be alive but that still didn't prepare him to hear for certain that he was dead. "How?" he asked quietly. "They've been taking us one by one." Draco replied. He didn't seem phased by it at all. "They started by the door to this corridor and executed one person at dawn every day. Of course the cells kept filling up again, and you knew everyone was praying that someone else would be captured by Voldemort, just so they wouldn't be next in line. You should have seen them after Black told them you'd save us. Poor fools really believed him. They thought that if they could just stay here for one more day you and your army would burst in and set them all free." "But you never believed that." It wasn't a question. "Well just look where it got them. Now I'm the only one left, and I'm the only one who saw this coming."  
  
Harry's heart sank even lower. All those people holed up in here, day after day, praying for him to come and rescue them. His godfather, believing in him to the end, along with all his old friends, some dead, others possibly working on a rescue plan at this very moment, and the worst thing was he didn't want them to. He had failed them. He had been captured. All he wanted to do was die in peace. He didn't want to live to see the world he should have saved them from.  
  
"If it's any consolation I'm scheduled for this morning. You still have one more day to come up with some master plan to save the world. A bit too late for everyone here" Draco swept his hand around the cell, emphasising the people that weren't there "But still, at least you would have tried." "Shut up Malfoy." Harry returned, but his heart wasn't in it. "Fine!" Draco muttered back.  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Harry couldn't stand it any longer. "So how come you never became a Death Eater?" He asked curiously. "I didn't feel like it!" Draco snapped. What right had Harry to ask him such personal questions? "I was only asking." Harry replied sullenly. Draco sighed, "I didn't particularly want to spend my life killing muggles, okay? I realized a lot of things after our seventh year, most of all that I never wanted to be my father. I thought that I could just slip away into hiding and forget about the Death Eaters. Apparently I was wrong. It was Voldemort's way, or no way at all. And so I'm here." There was silence for a moment more. "I'm sorry." Harry said finally, "For everything, I wish it could have been different back at school." And truly he did. "No!" Draco said harshly, turning on Harry "Don't you dare! Hogwarts was the happiest time of my life, and if you start regretting it, then what do I have?" It wasn't a question with an answer Harry could give him. 19 years is not enough time for a person to really live. It doesn't leave a person with enough memories to look back on and say 'Yes. I've lived my life to its maximum.' "I'm sorry." Was all Harry could say, though he knew it didn't help. "It's ok." Draco replied. "It doesn't really matter anyway."  
  
*  
  
Harry awoke slowly. For some reason his whole body felt stiff and sore. He realised that it wasn't his pillow he had his head on, it was a hard stone wall. Then the previous evening came back to him in a rush. "Draco!" He cried, struggling to his feet. But the cell across from him was empty, and he was alone. And then Harry saw that the room was filled with a pink-gold haze, and it was dawn. 


End file.
